1951 250 research

Posted by Robert J. Neal On 2012/2/9 12:11:37

Now that the Packard 1948 To 1950 book is finished and in print I am stirring up more trouble. I moved from the 23rd Series to the 24th Series cars and am starting with a little research on the 250 series convertible and Mayfair. An interesting pair since they were late comers to the line and were not introduced until February of 1951. They first hit the dealers with four "portholes" in the rear fenders and then shortly lost one (you can't have more than the Patrician, after all) and ended with three. There is even a story that a few VERY early ones got sold with no grill teeth and no portholes at all. That story appears to be a bit on the shakey side, but we shall see. There is no doubt that there are pictures of such cars, taken of the prototypes, but no verification thus far that any actually got in customer hands.

I am looking for VIN numbers of cars and their "porthole" count, three or four. There are lots of convertibles in the owner registry but no one seems to list the VIN number of their car. Sad, because this site would be a good research tool if VIN and engine number, and even firewall number and Briggs number, were listed. Without this information they become just and group of pretty cars as far as the historian is concerned. No numbers - no information.

I hope this thread starts a new trend, at least for the 24th Series cars, and owners start listing number information. This site has a very significan number of surviving Packards listed. It would be nice if it could be put to good historical use as well as the restoration help, etc. it now provides. Owners comonly ask me "how many were made like mine?" Packard did not record production by body until 1953. So if the owner wants answers he must not keep the numbers associated with his car a secrete. We historian are not magicians, just researchers chasing information and putting it together to form a story with answers.

Robert Neal RJNeal0000@aol.com